Conrad vs. Kate

Disclaimer: Same as before.

Author's Note: I was watching the NCIS episode, Bone Yard and was inspired to write this particular short chapter.

The Pit, Headquarters Building
General Hawk and Scarlett
17 February 2002, 0630

"So who's shadowing our two agents now?" Hawk asked Scarlett as the two of them sat on either side of his desk in his office.

"Quick Kick and Jinx." Scarlett replied, "They're actually also teaching a hand to hand combat class too, so they're being thrown into the mix."

"Hopefully they don't get too badly hurt." Hawk commented.

"Well given one is a Secret Service agent and the other is an ex-member of the French Foreign Legion I'm sure they can handle themselves." Scarlett replied.

The Pit, Ninja Dojo
Kate, Conrad, Quick Kick, Jinx
17 February 2002, 0632

Conrad Hart was multitasking. He was doing a set of pull-ups on the nearby pullup bar and watching as Kate stretched on a nearby mat before standing up and practicing kicks and punches on a nearby heavy bag.

Definitely quite limber, and fast. Conrad thought as he watched her throw a left jab, right cross, left jab and then a rapid roundhouse kick with her right foot.

After he dropped off the chin up bar Conrad headed over to another nearby heavy bag, practicing a few punches of his own, before throwing a front kick.

Kate, as a habit, observed Conrad's punches thrown at the bag. Noticing they seemed to hit hard. Judging by how he threw them Kate came to her own conclusion. He's definitely a power hitter, goes for hard individual strikes.

After a little more bag work, and some other work with striking pads held by Quick Kick and Jinx respectively it was time for a little sparring.

"Well," Quick Kick said, "Time for a little sparring. Let's see how you two do against each other, shall we?"

Both Kate and Conrad climbed into their respective corners of a standard four corner boxing ring. They both wore mouth guards, black leather fingerless MMA gloves as protection over their sports attire.

"Alright, we'll go two rounds, ending with first decisive hit or submission." Quick Kick announced.

He inspected both Kate and Conrad's gloves and mouth guards before raising his arm in the air and then swinging it downward before stepping back from the two combatants. The two circled around each other at first, trading jabs at first.

Kate noticed Conrad's practiced fighting stance as they did so. Clearly a boxer.

"Are you going to try and hit me now?" Kate commented.

"Ladies first." Conrad quipped with a smirk.

Kate thought she'd saw an opening when Conrad slightly dropped his lead hand. Throwing a quick left for his face she was surprised when Conrad quickly caught it with the palm of his left hand and threw a hard right cross over the top of it.

Kate barely was able to slip away from the punch. Definitely a counter-puncher. Kate thought.

Definitely quick. Conrad thought, noticing how Kate barely dodged his last punch.

Conrad raised his right leg, kicking out with a low front kick, connecting with Kate's upper thigh to break away.

Clever kick on the break. Kate thought, before throwing a fast roundhouse kick, aimed at Conrad's ribcage. He just narrowly dropped his left elbow quickly enough to block the kick.

Kate managed to pull her leg back before Conrad could grab a hold of it and throwing a fast left handed jab. Conrad caught it, just barely, before trying to throw another hard right. Instead of slipping to avoid it Kate ducked underneath the punch before throwing one of her own at Conrad's unprotected stomach.

She heard him let out a gasp of air, indicating a good hit.

"Round one, Kate!" Quick Kick shouted.

"Tres bien, mademoiselle." Conrad said with a smirk.

"I hope you weren't holding back on me because I'm a woman." Kate replied, with a smirk of her own. If he'd connected with either of those hard rights he threw...

"Not at all," Conrad replied, "However I can see you know what you're doing. Your timing was quite good with that last one."

"Again, three practically psychotic older brothers." Kate replied.

After a brief rest the two were at it again for a second round of sparring. Once again Quick Kick gave them the go ahead and once again they started to fight.

This time Conrad went straight onto the offensive with a fast jab. Kate caught it, but before she could counter Conrad's right leg whipped around for a roundhouse kick of his own, causing Kate to drop her left arm to shield her ribcage.

And then that's when Conrad's punch caught her on the chin.

"Round two, Conrad!" Quick Kick called.

"Well it's pretty obvious you two are good strikers, but let's see how you do when things go to the ground." Quick Kick said, "That's going to be the lesson I'll be covering tomorrow."

"Sounds fun." Conrad quipped as he and Kate stepped out of the ring, removing gloves and mouth guards.

"You're pretty good." Conrad complimented as they began their cooling down exercises.

"Well, I do protect the President for a living." Kate replied, "And you're not too bad yourself."

"Well," Conrad said, "I did serve in the French Foreign Legion, where we were taught a blend of savate and some ground work."

"Savate?" Kate asked.

"French for 'Old Shoe', it basically is a sort of kickboxing style that originated as an old school street fighting style but later evolved into a sport." Conrad replied, "They taught us the latter version in the Legion."

"Ah, savate," Quick Kick commented, "The infamous 'game from Marseilles' they called it."

"One and the same." Conrad said, "Very useful in surviving on the streets of a France more reminiscent of Victor Hugo France versus the 'wine, cheese, and art' view of France that comes to mind."

"Is that with or without Quasimodo jumping down from the spires of Notre Dame?" Kate commented.

"Touche." Conrad remarked, "However I do believe Quasimodo would make one hell of a grappler."

"How so?" Kate asked.

"Easy, having the upper body strength to ring those huge bells means he's definitely got the strength base for it." Conrad replied.

"Yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean he knows how to fight." Kate replied.

"True, his form and his bulky upper body would definitely be a deterrent to the average thug." Conrad replied, "But I could argue that he would know how to fight because there would always be that one fellow who would want to fight him…"

"This is shaping up to be the Isla Sorna debate all over again." Kate remarked as they headed towards the entrances of their respective locker rooms.

"I do enjoy our debates, however." Conrad replied, with a toothy grin before they split off for their respective locker rooms.

Notes from Kate's PDA: Over the last four days I've had one interesting trip. I got introduced to Todd Tolansky in a really informal way. I got to watch Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, i.e. the kid taking a joyride on a tank.

I did get to hear from the nurse that treated Todd's wounds when they found him as well as from Roadblock, the soldier that adopted him. My report is going to emphasize that Todd stay here. From what I've seen and heard so far Roadblock's made some decent progress with the kid.

While it's still too early to tell, it would be a mistake to separate the kid from his adopted home.

As far as interesting is concerned, I would be remiss if I didn't include the Pit and G.I. Joe in the mix. By no stretch of the imagination is the Pit a typical military base, as the Shakespeare troupe led by their chemical warfare expert, Airtight, clearly shows.

Their chef, BA, isn't quite playing with a full deck. He certainly plays a big part in keeping things interesting around here.

And recently I ran into a fellow nicknamed Shipwreck. By all accounts he seems to be both an effective member of the team but also just plain nuts. The term 'Napoleon of Nuts' was uttered at least once or twice.

And a third interesting is my partner for this assignment, from the ACME Detective Agency. He's a fellow riddled with contradictions. An American who served eight years in the French Foreign Legion, to include being wounded in action in Africa fighting against COBRA. His hearing in his left ear tends to come and go, owing to a grenade explosion.

In four days I've learned more trivia about the French Foreign Legion from sharing an apartment with this guy. I didn't know, for instance, until this morning that quite a few marching songs the Legion has are in German because there were large numbers of Germans in their ranks after both World Wars.

Baer wants me to stick around and learn as much as I can about Todd's rehabilitation and any information on the Brotherhood. I'm only telling Tim brief details, because I don't want Baer knowing that we're seeing each other. After all dating between members on Presidential Detail is absolutely forbidden...

To Be Continued. Up next our pair meet other mutants that live on the Pit...